Cats start appearing in the village after part 1 of the main story is done. (so roughly after building the fountain) Then you will get the “village cats” quest which will reward you with the cat encyclopedia which means you will start to see some cats.

Before repairing the bridge you can see up to 2 cats per day, one walking around and one hidden. I will show those hiding spots later. Once you fixed the bridge you can see 4 cats per day, 2 on both sides, and just like before one hidden and one walking on each side. Then when the southern part is accessible you can see 6 cats per day, 3 not hidden and 3 hidden ones

Notes:

• If you stay in the village for a while you could find 2 walking on the same side without discovering one hidden because well they walk around the village and can go practically everywhere
  
• Sometimes they can be bugged somewhere and stuck, if that’s the case go out the village and come back, if it’s still not fixed save the game and come back
  
• Sometimes cats can be hard to find cause they are behind tree so don’t forget to check or wait for them to come out

When you first meet them you can draw them with a quill to learn about them, some are lazy and some are active, i pretty much think it determines whether they will spend most of their time running around or sleeping.
You can also see in the encyclopedia that after a certain amount of heart you will reach a new friendship level, not all cats require the same amount of hearts for the same friendship level.

Before reaching friendship one
They will run away from you each time you get too close and thus cannot interact with them other than to give them food

friendship one
You can now get close to them, which makes feeding them easier and you can sometimes pet them, although they can also get mad and run away
Plus you learn the cat’s name

friendship two
Interaction “patting” unlocked (They need to come to you which will happen if you stand nearby)
Pet chance increased

friendship three
Pet is now 100% successful
Can gain no more affection
Cat can visit you outside your house

friendship four
Unlocked when you adopt a cat
Cat will be at your house
Can give you gifts
Affection will decrease if you don't play or pet it often

To raise friendship you can either feed them or interact with them which is only possible once you reach friendship with them.

To feed them you need to put food in front of them, be careful to not get too close when you do not have reached friendship one with them yet. to indicate they noticed it they will have a bubble with a fish above their heads, if they ate already today the fish will be crossed







Once you reached friendship level one and that you’ve done the quest “playing with cats“ you can also use the cat toy once everyday to gain friendship (probably the same amount as if you give them a liked fish). You can also now sometimes pet them which give the same amount as neutral fish
When you reach friendship two you have the option “patting” which gives the same as a likes fish

This is approximate because i don't have actual data

to get a full heart you need:

• 4 neutral fishes
  
• 3 liked ones
  
• 2 loved one

Liked fish are 1 and 2 stars
Loved fish are always 3 stars fish

Everyday there is 3 cats hidden and that’s why i’m going to show you where so you don’t miss any
You need to interact with them and they can be, scattered flowers, eaten fish or footprints


Above arden’s restaurant you can find catprints leading to a tree


Footprints leading to the barrel at arden’s


Under the bridge


Under the tree next to the board


Next to Kyla’s house


In enite’s garden under the small pond


Bench under enite’s place


Tree on the right of enite’s and next to the river



Just after crossing the bridge you can find under the tree some scattered flowers


Footprints on the bench under the stage


In between the library and alvin’s house


Stairs above the bridge



Left of the big tree


Next to the previous one on the left before the stairs


Almost all the way down before the stairs going down next to the water


Under a tree above the axe in a tree stump


On the path on the left of the river to the southern part of the village


under the last one next to the stairs


Above the cave entrance

To let you discover them I will not give their names but will only show their picture and call them by their order

Note: The first 5 cats like fish from the green forest, the 5 cats after that like fish from the cloud valley, so if there is more cats in next updates it is probably safe to assume they like fish from the new region


They are white and gray with blue eyes, they love the green witch, and their likes are the giant claw crab, cloud salmon and the chameleon surgeonfish




They are all black with green eyes, they love the patch fish, and their likes are the mountain urchin, clown king and the fairy fish




They are a calico cat with their eyes always closed, they love the elder fish, and their likes are the mountain bream, hard skinned eel and pitch black




They are fully white with yellow eyes, they love the broom monkfish, and their likes are the leafish, pilchard and stone fish




They are grey with white paws and top chest area with green eyes, they love the pepper tuna, and their likes are the blind fish, plump fish and the bass



From here the fish are from the cloud valley

They are white with blue paws, ears, tail and face with yellow eyes, they love the angel fish, and their likes are the clank crayfish, axe mackerel and the koi




They are dark purple with white face and upper chest area, with a dark purple mole on a cheek and it have purple eyes, they love the geezer catfish, and their likes are the bumper mackerel, apologizer and turquoise tuna




They are white with ginger spots and it have orange eyes, they love the cloud fin, and their likes are the monstrous piranha, manly catfish and rainbow surgeonfish




They are a tabby cat and it have green eyes, they love the gloomy face, and their likes are the floating eye, coral flower crab and rock eel




They are an all gray cat and it have green eyes, they love the valley witch, and their likes are the valley urchin, valley clown fish and fighter fish



From here the fish are from the starlit cave


They are an all light gray cat and it have grey eyes, they love the Candybell, and their likes are the Green fish, Starlit urchin and Starflutter




They are a white with black spots cat and it have green eyes, they love the Nebulune, and their likes are the Skyfin, Ore eel and Silver let




They are an white cat with light brown on the face and back and it have brown eyes, they love the Star witch, and their likes are the Goldmoontail, Noctilux and Violuna




They are a tabby cat with a white belly and it have green eyes, they love the Driftscale Shark, and their likes are the Ironmaw, Sparkle fish and Lumineon




They are an all pink cat and it have pink eyes, they love the ??, and their likes are the Ponglin, Blue crown crab and Deviyark

After unlocking the cats you will unlock a quest which will allow you to put a cat bowl, which allows you to guarantee one of the next day's cat by putting one of their favorite fish, plus you will gain affection with the cat. Later there will be 3 cat bowls, the first one will be above Enite’s house, the second one is after the left bridge next to the bench and the last one in the south next to the starlit cave entrance

Hi hi, i hope this helped you (especially to avoid the suffering of trying to feed every fishes to every cat) and that you will enjoy the cats as much as i did!
If there’s anything that’s confusing or that I forgot just lmk in the comments I will fix it the best I can! :D
I will try to update it with the next updates to keep it as complete as i can
If you could leave a rating I would really appreciate it as it’s my first guide and I would like to improve so also lmk if you have any advices